Life in Exile
by guncannon109
Summary: After vanquishing Unicron and restoring Cybertron, Megatron sent himself into exile and soon after that, into the web of another conflict on a far off jungle world. Whatever new terrors await the former Decepticon leader, old shadows are sure to follow.
1. Prologue: Megatron No Longer

**Prologue: Megatron No Longer**

Megatron knelt at his knees, holding his head as he reclaimed control of his body on the ruins of Cybertron with the Autobots and Predacons before him. The battle with Unicron and his undead horde had just died down, but before the Decepticon tyrant could so much as blink, his 'loyal' air commander Starscream darted down from the sky and rushed to his side.

"Praise the Allspark!" Starscream cried out, shifting from jet to robot as he touched down beside Megatron, "Master! You're alive!

"Indeed..." Megatron spoke between pants, rising to his feet after a mere moment.

"Your new battle armor will take things to the next level my liege!" Starscream boasted, clenching his fists in a sinister fashion, "Together we will reunite all Decepticons, and once again grind Cybertron under your mighty heel!"

"No!" Megatron barked at him

"What?" Starscream questioned, a puzzled look coming onto his face "Why?!"

Megatron didn't answer, instead walking away from Starscream and coming to a halt just in front of Optimus. Prime in turn rose up to meet his gaze, not sure what to expect some from the Decepticon leader. After thinking it over for only a moment, Megatron simply turned his head to Prime and broke the silence.

"Because I now know the true meaning if oppression..." He spoke simply, "and have thus lost my taste for inflicting it."

Starscream let out a laugh, stumbling over himself as he made his way over to Megatron, "You've clearly been traumatized Master," he bowed, using his display of loyalty to regain his composure, "a good power down a stroll around the smelting pit will put you back in touch with your inner warlord!"

"Enough!" Megatron swatted Starscream away, staring him dead in the eye, looming over the seeker more and more with each step he took towards him, "the Decepticons are no more, and that is FINAL!"

Without another word more, Megatron took a running start and took off the ground before shifting into his star ship mode and jettisoning himself from the planet. The former Decepticon leader only took one look back to the planet he brought to ruin before blasting himself further into space, not knowing where he would go.

Throughout his voyage, he scanned over his memory banks until he came upon one that caught his attention and began to play it over. In the file, Megatron was before the Iacon council only moments after he had mentioned the cast system that stripped his fellow cybertronians of their basic freedoms and the unjust punishments that would befall them should they choose to not follow it. The council that surrounded him from all sides glared down to him from their perch, the soon to be Optimus Prime, Orion Pax, standing by his side.

"You speak of injustice, Megatron," the head of the council touted, "but the systems you are so quick to deem us ill are in place for a reason. Surely to do not expect us to simply destroy them on a whim, do you?

"I do not seek for you to destroy them out right, rather to replace and restructure it!" Megatron pleaded, placing his hand over his spark chamber, "You have seen little of the torment your worker drones suffer in their daily lives, and the beatings their task masters inflict if it is not to their.. Standards." the utterance of such an unsuited word made Megatron's skin crawl. "Any task master who would abuse their power to damage those under them does not deserve to keep their placement!"

The head of the council raised a brow as the other members began to whisper among themselves. The head of the council thought for a moment, then spoke, "But what of the task masters who wish to not be removed from their positions? They will not take the command kindly, I can assure you that."

"Remove them by force then," Megatron laughed, thinking this question had to be a joke, "if that is what it takes."

Gasps and whispers escaped from the lips council, the head silencing it with a simple raising of his hand as he shot glare at Megatron.

"You would need the power of a Prime to do that," the head of the council told Megatron matter of factly, "I hope you realize that... Gladiator."

Megatron gritted his teeth, balling his hand into a fist, "Then make me a Prime!" he boasted, placing his hand over his spark chamber, "I will take on the tasks you wish to neglect! You would not even need to lift a finger!"

It was with these words that the council was set into an uproar, "MONSTER!" barked a member of the council, "BANISH HIM!" demanded another.

"Order!" The head of the council called out, "There will be order in this council!" 

Megatron's optics scanned the crowd that had so quickly turned on him, letting out a gasp and turning his head back once a gentle hand had been placed on his shoulder from behind him. The hand of Orion Pax, his only friend at the current moment.

"Orion," Megatron sighed, motioning towards the angered council, "talk some sense into this lot brother, for my sake."

Orion nodded before stepping forward, "If I could speak for a moment?" Orion requested, getting the council's attention.

"A clerk?" Asked the council head, "what's your name?"

"Orion Pax, your honor," he bowed before motioning towards Megatron, "While I agree with the basis of what Megatron is saying, I believe a just structure can be achieved by a peaceful, non violent means. Change from within by words, not by force."

The head of the council grinned at Orion, "Now those are the words of someone truly deserving to be made a Prime."

Megatron froze, looking to Orion with a puzzled look before glaring back to the head of the council, "You would make HIM a prime?" He laughed, pointing over his shoulder to Orion, "He spoke nothing but empty platitudes! The title of Prime should be earned by bold actions, not gentle words!"

"Actions which you clearly have no desire to take, Gladiator!" The head of council glared at him, the entire council joining him in doing so, "Regardless, the title of Prime can only be truly earned through claiming a treasure of Primus, the Matrix of Leadership. Which you would know if your arrogance did not get the better of you."

Megatron snarled, Orion extending a hand to him,"Megatron, perhaps we should-"

"We?" Megatron glared at him, striking Orion's hand away from him, "Orion... You have betrayed me..." He turned on his heel to leave, "there is no we."

There was a skip in Megatron's memory banks, soon he was watching a clip of him flying back to Kaon only moments after the previous memory. The peaceful yet uneasy sky was disrupted by a sudden shout caught his attention.

"STUPID DRONE!" shouted a voice from below, drawing Megatron's gaze to a bright red taskmaster with a bulky build as he struck down a scrawny miner in a deep chasm just outside the city, "GET BACK TO WORK! OR I'LL HAVE YOU TERMINATED!" 

This simple action infuriated Megatron, diving down into a nosedive only to shift into his robot form just he struck the ground between the task master and the worker.

"Speak to him again in that tone, " he snarled, shooting a death filled glare into the task master's eyes while extending his blade from his arm, "and I shall carve out your very spark!"

The task master and all the workers froze in place, the task master himself shaking where he stood. "Hey, isn't that.." called out one worker, "no way, its Megatron!" Cheered another.

"What are you all doing! Back to work!" The task master cracked his whip, "Or you'll all be dismantled!"

Megatron narrowed his gaze on the fool holding the whip, digging his feet into the ground before lunging towards him. Megatron grabbed him by the head, forced him to the ground and raised his blade to the bot's chest.

"The only one who shall be dismantled," Megatron informed him in an ice cold tone, "is you!"

Before the bot could even so much as scream, Megatron plunged his blade into the bot's spark chamber taking him offline instantly. Megatron then tore off the bot's head and tosses it at the feet of the cluster of workers who all stood in awe of him.

"These task masters shall do as they please no longer!" Megatron called out, "Rise up with me my brothers! And we shall take what is ours by force!"

The crowd remained quiet for a moment before one scrawny worker called out, "All hail Megatron!"

"All hail Megatron!" The others joined in.

"No.." Megatron uttered to himself as he shut off the recorded memory, his gaze turning to cold void of space, "I am Megatron no longer..."

His peaceful and vacant mindset was soon ended by a sudden spike of energy shot up on his radar, alarms flaring up on his internal systems.

"WHAT?!" He shouted in disbelief as he turned his gaze to a planet covered in a honeycomb patterned energy field that he hadn't noticed until it was practically right in front of him and drawing him fast.

Before he could process what was happening, he was already in the planet's atmosphere and quickly approaching the ground.

"Engines and weapons, overloaded!" He gritted his teeth in frustration, attempting but failing to pull up, "Scrap!"

With a loud crash and scattering of native wildlife, Megatron hit the ground with his forced landing only slightly cousins by the rather large foliage. He groaned in pain, managing to reorient himself into his bipedal robot form and with a bit of effort, stand himself up.

He looked around his new fog filled environment that could only be described as a rain forest with a mixture of organic and bio mechanical life of both plant and animal varieties. It was then that the sun began to peer through the energy field that seemed to take up the entire sky from his current vantage point.

"So… this is life in exile, is it?" he questioned, dawning a smirk after a moment of silence, "Well then, let's begin."

 **Next - Chapter 1: Within the Spider's Web**


	2. Chapter 1: Within the Spider's Web

**Chapter 01: Within the Spider's Web**

In the days since his forced landing, time appeared to blend together for the Decepticon formerly known as Megatron. Isolation was both a blessing and a curse for him, as while the time alone had granted him clarity in certain aspects, it had left his mind scattered in many others.

All this inner looking and quest to simply stay alive lead him to one rather sunny day where the thick fog had parted just enough so he could lay witness to a clearing while hiding just above in the trees while a metal panther like creature prowled the clearly. The gun metal grey beast kept low, eyeing a small howl as the head of a tiny creature poked out, the panther leaping towards it and swiping it into its jaws.

Once the critter had been devoured, the former Megatron leapt down from his hiding place and grabbed the beast by its throat. This resulted in a whimper, followed by a fit of snarls as it attempted to free itself from the former Megatron's hold while clawing at him violently. The former Megatron simply glared at the beast, holding it in a way so its claws couldn't touch him.

"Forgive me," he told the beast, pressing his blade to the beasts throat before slicing it open, "and thank you."

As energon blue blood spilled out from the beast, the former Megatron raised its bleeding carcass up to catch the fluid in his mouth before squeezing all that he could out of it, tossing it to the ground once it had run dry. He looked to his forearm, popping open a panel with three bars. Two marked for flight fuel and ammunition were completely empty, but one marking his internal power cells slowly crawled up to twenty five percent from twenty.

"Nothing more than crumbs... as always," he snarled, looking to his still broken fusion cannon before ripping it off, "Here, consider it a parting gift my friend," he told the body of the beast as he threw the remains of his fusion cannon over its body, "it is as useful as killing you."

With that, he turned on his heel and proceeded deeper into the forest. As he trudged along, he kept his eyes fixed on the energy field above him.

"That field is Decepticon technology, that much is certain," he thought to himself, bringing up his radar and scanners which were nothing but static, "However while I am inside it, I am unable to determine its power source." He huffed before putting his scanners away, managing a chuckle only moments afterwards, "If this is your idea of a joke Primus, then this is bad comedy."

He sniffed the air, suddenly coming to a halt as he turned his head to the left. "No... It couldn't be." He uttered before darting into the woods deeper and deeper, his eyes widening in awe once he came to a ruined camp in the middle of yet another clearing.

It was made up a several barriers that outlined the perimeter, all to guard several large crates along with four metal tarp tents that surrounded a much larger tent in the center of the encampment. The former Megatron tiptoed his way in, stepping over severed robotic limbs and stained earth from spilled energon. Hardly anything in the camp was left undamaged, the barriers having been torn apart with scorch marks and bullet hole in just about every point of the camp ground.

The former Megatron reached the center of the camp, looking down to a crate he had stepped on. He slowly raised his foot to reveal a Decepticon emblem on the front of the small crate. This small bit of information brought a smirk to the former Megatron's face.

"Figures," he boasted as he set his gaze to the large tent before him, "then I suppose I shall help myself to the former commander's personal energon supply, or whatever scraps remain of it at least."

Inside the tent was a single desk, a few chairs and a pair of shelving units. All of which was thrown about the room with only a pair of cases remaining within. One case was small, no bigger than then the length of his foot while the other matched that of his entire arm. Both cases seemed mostly untouched. The fact they were on the ground and not put back gave the former Megatron the impression that whoever owned this tent before had left in a hurry.

The former Megatron eyed the cases before walking over to them, grabbing the smaller of the two and cracking it open. Once he did, it brought a grin to his face as he laid his optics on the contents. Eight vials of energon, and of highly refined quality at that.

"This should keep me going until I can get off this rock," he declared, grabbing a vile and connecting it to the port on his arm. With only a few drops it was enough to fill his power cells completely. He closed the crase back up before eyeing the larger one, raising a brow at it.

"And what of you?" He ran his hand along a lock that had been placed on the case, breaking it apart before opening the case proper. He let out a gasp when, out form the case glimmered the shine of a large and clearly brand new fusion cannon with a bright amber barrel, a faint whisper coming out from it as it glimmered in the light as if it were calling for him to take it.

Without a moment of hesitation the former Megatron grabbed the new weapon from its case and placed it onto the socket his old one once held. A click and a whistle of steam erupted from his arm as his systems connected with that of the weapon.

"Like clockwork," he grinned wider as he rose to his feet, grabbing the case of energon on his way out of the tent.

As he basked in the sunlight, he eagerly drew in a breath of fresh air then exhaled. His moment of bliss was not to last however, it coming to a grinding halt by a sudden pause from the former Megatron. He stepped forward, sniffing the air once again as he notice the smell of smoke and ash was far more potent than he had initially realized. He eyed a pair of burn marks in the metallic gravel, kneeling down to scoop up a hand full of it within his claw.

"Still warm," he uttered to himself as he shifted the minerals in his fingers, "whomever made these burn marks... made them recently."

He clenched the dirt in his fist, scanning the tree line with his optics. He froze, catching the glimpse of a winged dark figure among the brambles and vines. He, however, was not allowed to focus on it for long as a bright yellow laser shot hurled out from the treeline to his right. The former Megatron dashed to his left just in time for the shot to miss and strike the ground just beneath his feet. He then refocused his optics back to the trees in front of him only to find nothing but empty foliage, the figure had already vanished.

The former Megatron gritted his teeth as he drew his blade from his wrist, "COWARD!" He roared, slashing his blade through the air as a display of force, "Come out and face me directly if you wish to kill me!"

As he roared into the trees and bushes, it was returned with another that sounded more like it came from a beast than a bot. The former Megatron scowled in frustration, raising his new fusion cannon to the tree line.

"Fine, have it your way," he grinned, spinning the barrel of his new weapon to warm it up, "I was looking for something to test this on regardless."

Another roar cry out, this time from the left side of the former Megatron. His gaze quickly turned to that side, he letting out a gasp as a teal and silver Predacon barreled out from the tree line and pounced on to the former Megatron, pinning him to the ground. Once the one predacon had him within his claws, a second predacon of navy and gunmetal grey coloring emerged from the woods with a stone cold snarl as it edged closer towards him.

"Predacons! Here?" he questioned with a strain to his voice from holding the one predacons jaws as it lashed at him, "I see. But where is your king I wonder?" He smirked to the teal and silver beast named Skylynx. "I trust he did not simply send his minions in his place."

"I am not as low a creature as you, Megatron," declared the voice of the Predacon who had named himself king as he emerged from the shadow of the forest. "That is what separated my kin from yours."

"If you claim it so, Predaking," the former Megatron glared at him. "Though I wonder.. what does the great Predaking have in store for me?" He grinned, raising a brow to taunt the beast king.

Predaking snarled at the former Megatron, balling his hand into a fist as he attempted to quell his anger towards the fiend before him, "Skylynx... Show him."

The teal predacon released him, his navy colored brother Darksteel taking over in pinning the former Megatron down. Skylynx then shifted to his two legged robot form and drew a pair of serrated curved swords from the folds of his wings, scraping the sharp edges of each blade against one another in an intimidating manor before raising the both of them to strike down at the former Megatron. In response to this, the former Megatron only glared at the beast without even the urge to fight back. In his spark, this was the least he deserved.

"If you intend to kill me, do it quickly," the former Megatron barked at him, "but do not waste my time with meaningless theatrics."

"Death will come to you Megatron, after you tell me one thing," Predaking snarled at him before kneeling down to look him in the eye. "Why did you send my clan to the slaughter?"

The former Megatron looked to him with a puzzled look but maintained his smirk, "I assumed Prime and his lot had already told you."

"Irrelevant," Predaking violently grabbed the former Megatron by the throat, "I need to hear you say it. Now!"

The former Megatron closed his optics and took in a deep breath as he thought it over, "It was fear that drove the old me to do it," he admitted, "however, the current me, has only respect for the three of you." He reopened his optics and looked Predaking deep into his own, "Killing me is my gift to you, so go a head and do it already. I wish you the best of luck in getting off this rock."

Predaking gritted his teeth further, looking to Skylynx and Darksteel who both looked to him as if awaiting orders. The king's fist shook before he used it to strike the ground beside the former Megatron's head, leaving nothing but a deep crater as dust and dirt filled the air.

"You..." He snarled as he rose to his feet, "you are not even worth killing." He took a few steps away, closing his optics and taking in a deep breath. The former Megatron stared up at the beasts who pinned him before moving his gaze towards the king who commanded them.

"If you are done sulking, I have questions of my own." He spoke, Predaking remaining silent, "Alright, I will be taking your silence as a yes." He looked up to the sky, the flicker of the web above still being visible beyond the clouds, "First, what do you plan to do with the energy web?"

"Energy web?" Predaking asked, turning back to the former Megatron with a raised brow, "What do you mean?" The former Megatron pointed a figure to the sky, guiding the predacon king's gaze up along with it.

"It is Decepticon technology, arcane by the standards of today," he came out with it, " It was designed to short out any firearms or thrusters that pass through it, but in time it was modified to destroy those systems entirely."

"Your kind… are truly scum," Predaking looked to him with a glare and a growl, "for what purpose would you have for such an infernal thing?"

"It was a precaution to protect my capital city Kaon from aerial assaults," elaborated the former Megatron. "However, I never imagined it would be capable of surrounding an entire planet".

"So... your kin turned this place into a prison?" Predaking asked.

"A tomb is more accurate," the former Megatron retorted, narrowing his gaze upon Predacon, "given the fact you or your underlings are not carrying blasters of any kind."

Predaking widened his stance, darting his gaze around the treeline, "What?!" He readied his claws as the former Megatron's statement sent him into a state of alarm.

The former Megatron jumped to his feet, shoving the predacons off him with ease as he scanned the area. "Believe me when I say this Predaking," he spoke once more as he looked into the king's optics, "we are not alone."

A sudden crack echoed from the trees, the former Megatron and the king ducking to the ground as several bright yellow laser shots hurled out from the brush. Slylynx sliced away at them with his blades, the blasts being cut to ribbon as if they were made out of some sort of cable.

Darksteel, meanwhile, did not fair as favorably. The brutish beast clawed at a few of the cables, only for them to constrict around him and bind the beast down like a hog to the ground. The trees shook as three pale blue hovercrafts of a similar size to the former Megatron's own star ship mode came into view from the opening in the tree line above.

The former Megatron glared at them, snarling before drawing his arm blade. He rose to his feet and darted towards Darksteel, cutting apart any of the cables that dared to come near him until he reached the downed Predacon. Darksteel snarled at him, the former Megatron simply looking at him in indifference to his actions before cutting his limbs free and pulling him to his feet.

"You three! Go!" He barked to Predaking, tossing Darksteel over to Skylynx "NOW!"

Predaking froze at the former Megatron's sudden command only to narrow his gaze and nod in agreement. He then looked to the other two predacons and motioned towards the tree line. Without another moment wasted the trio darted for the brush, shifting into their dragon modes as the vanished into the foliage.

Once the predacons had left his side, the former Megatron looked up to the three hovercrafts and aimed his cannon arm at the one looming furthest to his right. With a tight clenching of his fist, the cannon made a loud humming sound as its cylindrical amber barrel began to spine fastest than the optic could see. With an inner flick of his wrist, the cannon fired off two bright balls of energy with a recoil so strong that it sent the former Megatron to his knees.

With a loud wailing cry, the orbs spun around each other in a ever narrowing spiral before connecting with one another just before striking the targeted hovercraft. The hovercraft was melted within an instant, its remains crashing to the ground while the resulting shockwave from the blast the other two off their mark. Even the trees were rocked until they lost their leaves.

This small victory for the former Megatron proved to be just that, a small one. Just before they crashed, the two remaining hovercrafts shifted into match robot modes. Both were big and muscular with their faces being featureless save for a single yellow optic with the bulk of their hovercraft modes going onto their backs to form something of a bat like wing back.

The former Megatron gritted his teeth, swinging his sword back around as he prepared himself mentally and physically for another fight. What happened next however, he could not have prepared for as more binding shots erupted from the tree line at every possible direction. Before he could so much as move a muscle, he had been pinned down and chained.

Ten more identical soldiers holding weapons that could only be described as cybernetic crossbows emerged from the treeline. Along with them came another pair of robots, one a deep navy short and stocky with the other being a vibrant crimson of a tall slender but still very powerful looking build.

"He didn't last long," chuckled the navy bot in a deep gruff voice as he looked to the red bot by his side, "now can I shoot him?"

"We have our orders Dropkick," the red bot told him in a commanding feminine voice as she approached the downed former Megatron, "the master wants this one alive." She looked over her shoulder and narrowed her optics at her partner, "If you want, you can take a squad of sweeps and hunt down those beasts. Which, need I remind you, the master also wants alive."

Dropkick shrugged, "I just wanna shoot something," he motioned over his shoulder to three of the soldiers, "You heard Shatter, you lot with me!" He shifted into a vitol style hovercraft, taking off into the skies as three of the soldiers followed suit in their own respective alt modes.

"We received a signal that something broke through the barrier," Shatter told the former Megatron as she knelt down to look him in the eye, "In a million eons, I never would have suspected it would have been you."

The former Megatron fought to free himself from the cables all while looking up at Shatter with a glare, "What do you intend to do with me?" he snarled.

"That is not for me to decide," Shatter informed him, standing tall as she looked to the trees once more, "What say you, master?"

As she spoke, another sweep style soldier stepped out from the shadow of the forest only this one was unlike the others. He carried a large energy rifle in place of a crossbow with what appeared to be a cannon on the top of his head. His face resembled that of an elder cybertronian, a pair of withered yellow optics standing out from his torn up silver face that had paneling in the form of a long mustache and goatee.

"That will all depend on how our guest behaves," the newly appeared hunter put simply, looking down at the captured bot with a blank expression on his face. "Try not to fight it, you are in our world now… Megatron."

 **Next - Chapter 2: Scourge and His Huntsmen**


	3. Chapter 2: Scourge and His Huntsmen

**Chapter 2: Scourge and His Huntsmen**

The former Megatron, with his hands shackled behind his back, was pulled through the woods like a beast on a leash. A collar had been latched to his throat, connected by four energy cables each held by a separate sweep that stood at all sides of him, his new fusion cannon being removed and held by the red female named Shatter.

"Where are you taking me?" The former Megatron demanded, his optics locking onto the red female before him.

"Just be quiet," Shatter whispered to him, keeping her gaze fixed on her mustached master at the front of the pack, "you'll see soon enough.. so long as you behave."

The hunting pack kept moving forward through the woods, the electric cawing of biomechanical wildlife filling the air around them as they trudged onward. The collective maintained a steady pace until they reached a clearing with Dropkick in the center of it. The blue vitol based bot stood with his foot resting firmly over the maw of a bound Darksteel in beast form. His trio of sweeps kept their optics on the treeline around them, Dropkick smirking towards his master.

"Took you long enough Scourge," he snickered, eyeing the former Megatron over his master's shoulder, "that old bucket of bolts too much for ya to handle?"

"Hardly, Dropkick," Scourge coldly eyed the blue Vitol before shooting a harsh glare towards the captured Darksteel, "Though you have managed to score an impressive prize you managed for yourself there, haven't you?"

"Was nothin' but a thing really." Dropkick boasted with a chuckle and a flex of his arms as Scourge came over to kneel down infront of Darksteel, "Scrap, I didn't even need any atha Sweeps I got pinned to."

"So you claim," Scourge's glare narrowed upon Darksteel who in turn snarled back towards him. "Even so… I am thankful we did not waste too many resources in the capture of such a tiny thing." He muttered, scratching the side of Darksteels jaw.

Not wanting to be treated with such disrespect any longer, Darksteel snapped his maw open wide enough to break the muzzle around his jaws before lashing his fangs towards Scourge's hand. Shatter, Dropkick and the sweeps all aimed their guns at Darksteel the moment he first lunged forward. They were all ready to fire on Scourge's command who seemingly allowed the Predacon to sink his fangs deep into his one hand before grabbing his throat from the back with the other. With one swift motion, the hunter buried the beast's face into the dirt and rubbed it into the gravel for good measure.

"Drop it," Scourge ordered, a small whimper escaping from Darksteel as he loosened his hold on the hunter's hand, "Good…" he eyed Dropkick, "Muzzle him again, two bindings this time."

Dropkick nodded, looking over to a pair of sweeps that stood behind him, "You heard the boss."

The sweeps cocked their crossbows without one second of a delay and each fired a light cable at the bound beast. The first latched around the front of Darksteel's maw, the second hitting closer to his throat but still constricting around his mouth. Darksteel winced, whimpered and squirmed as he was re-muzzled, scorch marks burning themselves deep into the paneling that made up Darksteels' snout.

The former Megatron snarled as he took a step forward only for Shatter to extend her arm forward with a swift and deliberate motion. Glaring back at him, she shook her head at the male.

"Stay back," he told him firmly.

He was both struck and perplexed by her action. While her body and voice gave off an intimidating energy, her optics gave off another. Anyone other than the former Megatron might have read this gaze as one of heartbreak. This single moment was only that, a single moment. It was one that to Shatter was easily broken as she effortlessly seemed to regain her cold composure and refocus her attention to her master Scourge.

"Master, are you alright?" she asked, lowering her raised hand. "We haven't any idea where that pest has been, it may be carrying something. A virus perhaps, or even worse."

"You have more pressing matters to concern yourself with Shatter," Scourge informed her, looking Dropkick in the optics. "As does your brother."

Dropkick gulped, "I-I do.. sir?"

"There were two others like this one," Scourge changed reminded the vitol based hunter, pressing his foot down on top of Darksteels' maw. "They are to be captured, and you are not to return home until they are. Is that clear?"

"Ugh, and why?" Dropkick scoffed at him.

"We have a code for a reason, Dropkick," Scourge told him, his hand becoming a serated blade that pulsed with energy at the mere flick of his= wrist. "Or have you forgotten that simple truth?"

Dropkick gulped before letting out a huff, "Fine, I'll round them before dark!"

With a motion of his head, the three sweeps under his command took to their hovercraft modes and he his Vitol mode. The four bots moved quickly rose to the top of the treeline, taking off and quickly vanishing in search of their targets.

"Code?" The former Megatron asked with a whisper to himself, a small laugh escaping under his breath, "Now what is he on about?"

"Finish what you started," Shatter told him simply, pointing to an antenna at the side of her head clearly designed for picking up audio from far away, "no matter the cost."

The former Megatron simply glanced at her, choosing not to say a word more after such a display. From that point forward he felt it safer to simply watch as Darksteel was hoisted up by a set of four Sweeps and carried off down the path in front of them. Scourge then turned his gaze back to Shatter, motioning his head forward.

"Bring him," the hunter commanded as he followed after his pack, "we're heading home."

The hunting party and their prisoner continued their walk, stopping only once the sun began to set and they arrived to a sizable camp made out of the trees themselves. To the untrained eye it would appeared as a completely natural formation, but to the optics of the former Megatron it was more than clear that each tree had been intentionally hollowed out at the base to house a full grown cybertronian.

All this he had been expecting in one way or another, however what he did not predict was the number of small hatchlings that were running. Some were napping in a tree in the center of the village, being watched by a pale green and white bot of indeterminate gender and a slender build. Many others meanwhile were climbing all over a few off duty sweeps, the sweeps themselves not seeming to mind save for the group that were carrying Darksteel.

"Master Scourge! Master Scourge!" Cried a hatchling, tugging at the hunter's leg while pointing at the beast, "What's that?! What's that?!"

"Nothing to worry about," Scourge told him simply as he ensured that Darksteel was firmly tied to the ground, the beast snarling at him, "just don't get too close to it."

"Oh!...OH!" Nodding the hatchling as he gawked at Darksteel, "Can we eat it!? Can we eat it!?"

"No little one, this is not for eating," Scourge cooed to the Hatchling as he gave him a gentle pat on the head, "Now I do believe it is time for you nap, so run along over to Ursa okay?"

The hatchling nodded the bowed, "Yes master Scourge! Yes master Scourge!" they sang out joyfully before running off to the hollowed tree in the center of the village, the pale green and white bot of indeterminate gender scooping them up with their arms and putting them into a bed.

"Why are there hatchlings here?" The former Megatron questioned. "And so small at that."

"That information is none of your concern," Shatter told him, keeping her optics fixed upon a tree hut with a large x carved into the trunk of it. She closed her optics, balling her hands into fists as she walked up to Scourge, "Master, what shall we do with the prisoner?"

"Lock him up," Scourge told her simply as he got back on his feet, "the old cages in the armory should do for now.. until we de-Dropkick the actual prison."

Shatter looked to the sweeps that held the former Megatron, motioning to a tree hut far to the left hand corner of the village. "You heard him, lock him up." She ordered them before making her way over to the x marked hut.

The former Megatron glared at her, "What happened to finishing what you started?"

Shatter stopped dead in her tracks. "Someone else is in need of my attention," she told him, keeping her back to him to refrain from looking him in the optics. "Soldiers... take him away."

"Get moving already!" Barked one of the sweeps, shoving the male bot was along the dirt path to a tree hut with what appeared to be large metal tarps covering the entrance.

The loud and crisp bang of a blunt metal object onto molten steel rang out from the tarps, the change in air pressure forcing the tarps to part and allowing unworldly levels of heat and the glow of well kept furnace to billow outward. The former Megatron retracted his feet and stepped backwards after he so much as felt the heat that was being cast off from within.

"Geez, is she in a mood today or what?" Chuckled one of the sweeps, "she's been hammering away like that all morning."

"COME IN ALREADY!" Roared a voice from inside the hut, followed up by hammer strike loud enough to shatter the audio receptors of anyone nearby, "I HATE WORKING WITH SOMEONE OVER MY SHOULDER!"

The sweeps froze for a moment, shoving the former Megatron along once again after a moment to gather their courage. "You heard her, get in there." They pushed him in, only two of the four sweeps having the circuits to follow him in.

Inside was a darkened room, with empty cages lining one wall and racks housing armor and weapons of all kinds adorning the other. In the center of the room stood a tall muscular bot of a gunmetal grey colors scheme, with deep orange highlights being visible just under her monochrome armor. Her make gave off the impression that she was a living forge as she hammered away at the actual forge infront of her, the forge and herself being the primary source of light and heat in the room.

The forgery bot shot a glare up to the sweeps and the former Megatron, "Prisoner huh?" She uttered with a huff before swiftly looking back down to her work, pointing only a shoulder to the line of cages, "Put him in a box, then get out of here."

The sweeps nodded, grabbing the former Megatron by his arms and cramming him into the biggest cage they had. Once he was inside, the sweeps bolted it shut with a heavy padlock they before looking over to the forgery bot.

"So Cinderhammer…" the one sweep spoke, "is there, anything you need?"

"No," the forgery bot told them simply, continuing to hammer away. "Now leave."

The sweeps exchanged glances before shrugging towards one another and making their way out. Before they left however, the forgery bot's loud hammering stopped very suddenly.

"Wait!" She called to them as she pointed a finger to the left most sweep, lowering it to the crossbow on his hip, "let me see that."

The sweep unhooked the crossbow and stared at it, looking to his fellow sweep with a raised brow who gave back to him an equally confused shrug.

"Why?" The sweep asked as he came over with the weapon, holding it out to her.

Cinderhammer, without answering, swiped the weapon away and began to study it. After a moment or two she let out a heartbroken gasp. "My poor baby, you're all banged up!" she held the weapon close to comfort it, "What did has this brute done to you?"

"I uh… clubbed a beast in the head with it earlier?" the sweep uttered, shaking as Cinderhammer glared at him.

She gave him a hard smack on the head then latched the crossbow onto a nearby weapon rack. "If you're gonna treat my child like that, than you simply do not deserve to hold it!" She grabbed a simple metal club then handed it over to him.

"W-What am I supposed to do with this?!" The sweep exclaimed, Cinderhammer simply going back to her work.

"Club something with it," she told him sternly, continuing her hammering. "Now go, before I club you in the head."

The club burdened sweep grumbled as he latched his new weapon onto his hip, the other sweep chuckling at him as they left the room. The former Megatron, now alone with Cinderhammer and without much to do, simply sat there in his cage and watched the forgery bot go about her work. While watching her he could not help but feel he knew her from somewhere, but despite his best efforts he could not remember exactly.

After what felt like hours of work, the forgery bot lifted the large piece of metal she had been hammering away and held it up in the air to inspect it. It was still burning bright orange so she dipped in a bath of cool fluid, allowing the color to die down until what was now clearly a blade turned as black as obsidian. As she raised the metal once more, the former Megatron was able to see that it was a claymore style sword and a large one at that. Standing about twice the length of Cinderhammer herself, the blade itself was of a standard design, with what appeared to be dragon wings adorning the guard.

"Hmm…" she gawked at the sword, motioning the arm she held it in up and down before letting out a heavy sigh of defeat, "still too heavy." She muttered as she placed the sword on one of the weapon racks in front of her. "Work for tomorrow I suppose," she stretched her limbs out, a click and a crack being heard now and again. "By the way, I can let you out if you want me too."

The former Megatron raised a brow at her, "Aren't I a prisoner?"

"Aren't you a living creature?" She continued to stretch, "those boxes are cramped, you can't possibly be comfortable in there. Besides, the sight of a caged animal is one I find depressing, even it does plot to kill me."

His brow raised higher, "You believe I am planning to kill you?"

She looked to him, raising him a brow of her own, "Are you?"

The former Megatron just gawked at her, letting out a huff before turning his gaze away from her, "Just.. let me out already if you are going to."

She smirked at him, "Guess I'll take that as a no then," she pulled a key from her hip, twirling it around on her figure as she strutted over to him and unlocked the cage.

The former Megatron got up, only to stumble upon the first step he took. He fell forward, but fortunately for him she was there to catch him.

"Whao, easy there." Cinderhammer chuckled as she sat him down on a chair in the light, her optics shooting open once she got a better look at him. She gasped.

The former Megatron turned his gaze to her with a somehow saddened smirk, "So now you recognize me?" He boasted, "What will you do? Cage me once again?"

Despites all his prouding, Cinderhammer did not answer to a word of it. She was not shocked, but rather intrigued. Not by him, but by his armor. She ran her optics all over it, grasping at his shoulder armor and flexing it open and closed.

Her optics narrowed as she looked the former Megatron in his own, "You were once a gladiator in the pits of Kaon... weren't you?" she spoke finally. "Tell me, what did they call you back then?"

He dodged her gaze, "Megatronus was what I called myself, " he told her with a sigh.

"So it is you," Cinderhammer dropped the piece of his armor she held, "and not only did you destroy my planet, but now you have gone and defaced my work as well? That's certainly low, even for you Lord Megatron."

"Neither of those crimes were of my choosing." He shot a glare to her along with a snarl, "and as for that name, I have since relinquished it." Cinderhammer simply stared at him.

"Fine, have it your way," she uttered after a moment of silence as she walked over to a desk in the corner of the room, "it makes no difference to me." She pulled out a crate of energon vials, taking a pair of them and holding one out to him, "Company is company, that's all there is to it. Though if I had something to call you, that would certainly make things easier."

"Wouldn't locking me up again do the same?" The former Megatron looked at the vial of Energon, taking it as he met her gaze. "If your patrols come by, they'll most certainly turn a few heads not seeing me behind bars."

"I'll shove you back in your box before they come in," Cinderhammer told him simply, pulling up a chair from the other side of the room before sitting down beside, "Now are there anymore silly questions that you would like to ask?"

"A few," the former Megatron connected the energon vial to his arm.

"Well then how about this," Cinderhammer cracked her vial right open, drinking it via her mouth. "You ask one of yours, than I'll ask one of mine. You start."

The former Megatron took a long pause, looking around the forgery that was doubling as a prison. Among the rusted cages were huge piles of scrap metal, making it clear to him that the hunting party he now found himself in the clutches of had been there for a while.

With this in mind, he came up with his first question, "Where am I?"

"Thirteen hundred and seventy-five thousand light years away from Cybertron," Cinderhammer told him, "As for this planet, we aren't sure of its name. For now we simply call it home."

"Home?" he gawked at her, "that's just bad comedy."

"Well, that's your opinion to have. Now it's my turn," she sipped her energron as she looked to him. "Do you still have them? The weapons I gave you before you left the arena that day?"

The former Megatron looked to his wrist, popping out his sword before holding it out to him, "The blade remains in my possession. The fusion cannon however... did not survive the crash."

"Pity," Cinderhammer sighed heavily, running her hand over the edge of the former Megatron's blade with misty optics. "Oh well, what's done is done I suppose."

"It served its purpose until the end, you should be proud of your work from back then," the former Megatron told her as he eyed the sword hung on the wall. "Speaking of, what are you working on now?"

"A pet project of mine. Still far too heavy for my liking though, and in need of a name," she told him, "I had something humble in mind. Godslayer, or something along those lines." She smirked, looking up to him, "Beg me all you'd like Lord Megatron, I am not giving it to you."

"As I told you before, do not call me that name," he growled, turning his head away from her, "and not project such avorousion upon me, forgery drone."

"Oh my, such strong words coming from you." She almost giggled, taking yet another sip of energon and letting out a delighted gasp afterwards. "Alright sir Buckethead, you have officially saved my mood on this day. So tell you what, I shall give you a second question free of charge."

The former Megatron huff, hunching himself over more as he gave it a bit of thought, "I only have one question more… if I am to be honest with you."

"Alright," she nodded, raising a curious brow, "and what would it be?"

"The one who calls herself Shatter… " he spoke simply, "she mentioned she had someone to attend to before I sent to this makeshift forge." he turned his head to meet Cinderhammer's gaze, "Who did she mean by that?"

"Really… that's what you want to know?" She raised a brow to him. The former Megatron simply nodded. "Alright, then you better get comfy Buckethead… it is a bit of a long story."

 **Next - Chapter 3: Shatter's Wildfire**


	4. Chapter 3: Shatter's Wildfire

**Chapter 3: Shatter's Wildfire**

 **Memory Log 4477T**

Cybertron - 1000 years ago: Day of Exodus

The one beating husk of the planet hung cold in the void of space as fire rained down upon it from orbit. A wormhole had opened just outside of the atmosphere with a gold starship branded with the autobot emblem hurled towards it, a decepticon armada following close behind with Megatron's flagship nemesis leading the charge.

From within the hull of a decepticon carrier, a red decepticon marched down a hallway of airlocks lined wall to wall with flight based Vehicon drones.

"Alright you poor excuses for scrap! Listen up!" They spoke firmly with their hands behind their back, eyeing a blue flyer at the end of the line, "The flagship of the Autobot overlords is just within our reach. All that remains is to bring it and its commander to ruin. If we fail today, the sacrifice of our world would have been for nothing. Now prep for launch! Lord Megatron is offering a pile of energon reserves to the officer who brings him the head of that fool calling himself a Prime!"

"Sir! Yes sir!" Saluted the vehicons as they all climbed into the airlocks.

"DR-593KIC," the red decepticon looked their blue partner in the eye as they entered the same air lock, "refrain from you normal.. theatrics."

"That's Dropkick, sir," the blue bot reminded her as he cocked his guns open, "thought I told you."

"You did, DR-593KIC," the officer glared at him, "and to remind you, I still do not understand the point of such a label."

Dropkick shrugged, "If you say so."

The red officer raised their hand to the antenna on their head, "Lord Megatron, this is Vehicon Officer SH-494TWR. We are in position, requesting permission to engage."

"Unfortunately, our fearless leader is… occupied at the moment, so I shall be calling the shots from here on out," the slithery voice of air commander Starscream echoed from the other end of the comlink, "Permission granted, be sure to grind each one of them into the dust."

Officer SH-494TWR let out a grunt of annoyance, switching the comlink off.

"Still don't get why Lord Megatron keeps that pile of scrap around," Dropkick commented as he shifted to his vitol mode, keeping his wings folded to give his commanding officer room, "he's better as cannon fodder."

"Regardless of how either of us feel on the matter, we have our orders," Officer SH-494TWR reminded him as they gripped onto a handle a top Dropkick's vitol form. They switched on their comlink then spoke, "All forces, prepare for anti-ship combat. Should any of us fall, it will not be in vain. For the glory of Lord Megatron."

The airlocks opened one after the other, the vehicons launching along with Dropkick carrying his officer. Within seconds the autobot starship, The Ark, was directly ahead of them. They linked up with many other squadrons as the autobot guns turned on them and began to fire with two of the officer's ten vehicons being hit and taken offline.

"Hold! Do not break formation!" The officer shouted to their squadron.

Seekers rushed over them, darting for the bridge as carriers dropped heavy artillery tank based drones onto the main surface of the ship. The ark's anti-ship turrets repeated fire as the tank drones aimed fire upon them, destroying enough to allow officer SH-494 and their squad clearance enough to sweep by where other squads were getting shot down.

Officer SH-494, Dropkick and the Vehicons touched down, shifting to robot mode as the magnetized themselves to the ship's surface. Officer SH-494 ducked to the floor, their forces following suit as several explosive batteries roared over their heads and missed them by a hair.

Officer SH-494 turned their heads back up just in time to see a large panel open up on the deck of the ship, an elevator rising up through it carrying several heavy autobot troopers led by a bulky red weapons specialist and a tiny yellow scout.

"Not a single decepticon soldiers is permitted to pass!" Instructed the weapons specialist as his form arms opened up into high artillery cannons, "Demolition team! Roll out!"

With a simple nod from all the troops, they opened fire on Officer SH-494. The small yellow scout in turn, shifted to a small bug like car mode and bolted towards them using the mortar rounds as cover.

SH-494 glared at the weapons specialist, dashing backward out of the line of fire before shouting over her comlink. "Vehicons, scatter!"

The vehicons swooped out of the way, only one letting out a bone ratting scream as it got hit by a round and was instantly vaporized by the resulting blast. All seven remaining Vehicons shifted to their aerial ship modes and broke off into two groups, diving towards the autobot demo two in a two pronged offensive.

Officer SH-494 smirked, "Like clockwork."

"Uh.. Boss?" Dropkick called to his officer, pointing towards the yellow scout that was barreling towards them fast.

Officer SH-494 narrowed their optics toward the yellow bug. "No prisoners 593."

Dropkick chuckled as he popped out his arm mounted blasters, "Only trophies."

Dropkick unleashed a barrage of laser fire upon the yellow bug, however the bug was able to evade all but one shot which struck him the moment he shifted from vehicle to robot and lunged towards the pair.

Dropkick gritted his teeth as he raised a battle mask over his mouth with a fanged smirk etched into it. "Scrap! Just who is this bot?!" He huffed as his arm cannons changed into a pair of maces for close quarters combat, the yellow bug named Bumblebee landing only a few feet away from them.

"Scrap metal," Officer SH-494 declared as their own hands became a pair of blades, "nothing more 593."

Bee narrowed his optics upon the two bots, popping out his own twin barreled arm cannons while Dropkick popped the maces out from his hands and allowed them to hand down on chains connected to his arms.

"You've got spark scout," laughed Dropkick as he swung his flails around, the combat locked duo pacing around one another, "shame I gotta rip it outta ya."

With an overhand throw, Dropkick hurled a flail towards Bee and struck him across the face, hurling his second flail after only a second with an underhanded throw. Even though the first strike hit him, this was a mistake Bee did not make again. In the mere instant it took for the flail to close in on him, Bee caught it with one hand then grabbed the chain that connected it back to Dropkick with the other.

Bee shot a glare at Dropkick, pulling the con towards him before shooting him with a concussive blast to the right side of his face. Panels broke off from the staggered Dropkick which allowed Bee to grab both chains, swing it around Dropkick and tightly chain up the con with his arms behind his back.

Despite feeling a small sense of victory, it was not meant to last. Officer SH-494 quickly rushed over and kicked the yellow bug to the ground as Dropkick fought with the chains that bound him.

"You have been a thorn in my side for long enough little bug," Officer SH-494 glared down at Bee, pressing their foot down on his throat to keep him pinned. Their arm blade shifted to a cannon, Bumblebee wailing and bleeping as he attempted to break free, "Don't fight, it will only make it hurt harder."

Before the officer could cut into bee however, they were slammed to the ground by the weapons specialist helming the demolition team.

"So DX-909, you truly have abandoned us?" SH-494TWR cracked their neck, cutting Dropkick free of his chains as they both jumped back to their feet, "how disappointing."

"My name is Ironhide, firstly." the weapons specialist told them, "and second, I abandoned no one," he looked to Bee, "I just needed to have someone open my optics."

Bee nodded as SH 494 scoffed, "Spare me such foolish platitudes."

"Don't worry," Ironhide glared, aiming his cannons at her, "I plan to."

Ironhide fired several concusive blasts at the deck of the ship, the impact being enough to rocket the officer and Dropkick backwards as the ship roared ahead without them towards the wormhole.

SH 494 gritted their teeth, looking to Dropkick, "GET US BACK TO THE SHIP!"

Dropkick nodded, shifting to his vitol mode allowing his officer only a moment to grab hold before blasting off into the wormhole behind the arc and the rest of the decepticon fleet.

Even at full speed, Dropkick's engines were not enough to keep up with either the Arc or even the Nemesis that roared over them. Dropkick's paneling began to tremble under the pressure of the wormhole, officer SH-494's grip beginning to slip.

"Damn! I knew I wasn't prepared for space bridge travel!" Dropkick grunted, his engines shorting out for a moment before bursting back on at full force.

"I will have you fixed once we are aboard the Nemesis!" SH-494 barked at him, "do not lose sight of the autobot ship 583!" Dropkick did not answer, 494 looking up with a raised brow, "593?!"

"Easier said… than… done…" Dropkick winced, losing altitude within the wormhole.

"583! Hold it together!" SH-494 barked at him moments before Dropkick's engines cut out completely and reverted to his robot mode. "593!" SH-494 barked once more as they fell into the walls of the wormhole, everything around them going devolving into a white light and audio static.

 **End of Memory Log**

 **Memory Log 4477U**

"Okay.. he seems alright," a faint murmur came through the void of nothing, the vague hue of color beginning to come through in SH-494's optic, "I'll start my work on this one, just keep him stable for me okay?

Officer SH-494's optics focused on a face she did not recognize, the face of a female cybertronian. The sleek wings that hung off her thick hips was a clear sign she was a jet based model, and her heavy set frame showed she could clearly carry a tone. What was the most striking feature of her was her glossy white paneling lined with creamy orange flame detailing topped with a head peace that gave off the impression of a wild mane of fire.

Officer SH-494's optics shot open, quickly sitting herself up and pointing a blaster in the face of the wild maned female.

"Where am I?!" She barked, "Where is Lord Megatron?!"

The female jumped back, raising her hands up, "Whoa.. a bit of spunk you have there miss." She chuckled, spotting that with how janked up the con's arm was it would be surprising if their gun could fire at all.

She extended her hand to touch SH-494's, SH-494 quickly retracting while keeping their broken gun aimed at the female.

"Oh my.. touchy," the female smiled sadly, "do you have a name miss?"

"I do not require one, and I am the one asking the questions here!" Officer SH-494 barked at the female, "Where are we, and where is my subordinate!?"

"Very well, if you must know above your own well being," huffed the female, stepping to the side and motioning to a bed where a sleeping Dropkick lay peacefully with shut optics. "He's right here, safe and sound."

"593," SH-494 let out a sigh of relief. They rose to their feet, stumbling slightly before making it over to their suborndinates bed. Falling to their knees, SH-494 took hold of 593's hand in a gentle motion.

"You certainly shatter expectations, don't you," the female behind the red officer managed a grin. She placed a hand on the officer's shoulder, "Yeah, that will suit you just fine. Don't you think, Shatter?"

"Call me whatever you'd like, it makes no difference to me," the officer, newly named Shatter told her as she shot a glare over to the female, "but what do I call you? And where in Lord Megatron's name am I?"

"The name's Wildfire," the female told Shatterz extending a hand to her, "as for where we are, perhaps I should show you."

 **End of Memory Log**

 **Memory Log 4529K**

Shatter walked behind Wildfire through the deep jungle with one of Cinderhammer's crossbows in her hands. The pair were quiet, with the only sounds filling the air being the caws and coos of critters far off in the distance and the crunch of loose dirt and fallen foliage under their feet.

"Wildfire…" Shatter huffed, looking around the untamed wilderness surrounding her, "are you sure you know where we're going?"

"Venture spotted an energon spike on her scopes around these coordinates earlier this morning," Wildfire told the other female, holding up her radar to show a blip only a few clicks off from their current position. "We're just doing a small bit of recon, so don't worry your tailpipe over it."

Shatter huffed, closing her optics as she trudged along behind Wildfire, "I still feel uneasy," she said, "like we aren't alone out-" she took one more step forward, only to find there was no ground beneath it causing her to fall forward suddenly, "Ah!"

Hearing the shout of the female behind her, Wildfire with a gasp turned on her heel and darted forward to catch Shatter with both her arms. The two females stared down into the narrow ravine below them, using each other for support before looking up in a synchronized motion and meeting each other's gaze.

"There," Wildfire smiled at Shatter, "I've got you."

Shatter huffed, using Wilffire's arms to push herself back up. "Not like I needed it," she said, avoiding the gaze of the other female.

Wildfire managed a laugh, "Sure you didn't." She said as knelt down to inspect the ravene, scooping up some of the dirt in her hand, "This ravene is new, even I would've fallen in if I wasn't being careful."

"New?" Shatter turned her head back to Wildfire, "how is that possible?"

Wildfire looked up, "I'm not sure," she pointed a finger up to the jungle's canopy, "but it might have something to do with that."

Shatter glanced up to see a hole punched into the jungle's canopy, with torn trees and fallen vegetation clinging to the mouth of it.

"Something must have fallen through," Shatter said, lowering her gaze and looking around the jungle, "but what?"

"Only one way to find out," Wildfire said, rising to her feet before activating her feet mounted thrusters and hovering over the hole. She extended a hand to Shatter, "come on."

Shatter looked at Wildfire's open hand for a moment then with a huff, she turned her gaze away from the other female. "I can make my own way down."

"Look at Miss Independent," Wildfire laughed, turning in the air so that her back faced Shatter. "Fine, but it'll be faster if you can fly. So, why not just scan my wings and thrusters?"

"Scan?" Shatter questioned, looking back to Wildfire, "I'm a ground unit, not a flyer."

"You were made as a ground unit, sure…" Wildfire looked over her shoulder with a grin, " but you Shatter, can be whatever you want to be."

Shatter gasped, staring silently at Wildfire for moment with a widened awe struck gaze. After that single moment, her gaze sharpened upon Wildfire. Shatter's optics focused in on the bomber based female's wings and thrusters, a slimmer pair of wings appearing on her back and thrusters on her feet moments later.

The components of her ground based vehicle mode remained, but now she was capable of flight. This was a fact she learned only after kicking off the ground and crashing into Wildfire, the other female ready to catch her in her arms.

"Easy does it," laughed Wildfire, she and Shatter shifting their gaze to the deep hole beneath them. "Let's just work on getting down this hole."

Slowly but gradually, the pair descended down the hole before eventually landing at the bottom. Shatter looked around, noticing they now stood in a large passageway at the bottom of the hole.

"A tunnel?" Shatter question.

Wildfire looked around, noticing steel beams on the walls and roof of the tunnel. "And freshly made by the looks of things." Her hands shifted in a pair of matching machine guns. "As for what or who made it…"

"Only one way to find out," Shatter cut in, cocking her crossbow before walking out in front of Wildfire to follow wherever the tunnel lead.

Wildfire smirked as she watched Shatter move forward. "Now you're getting it," she said before following after her.

The pair followed the tunnel for a good long while, eventually coming to the mouth of it only for the both of them to duck off to one side at the sound of footsteps just outside.

Wildfire looked to Shatter, pressing a finger to her lips before poking her head ever so slightly out of their cover. Just beyond the mouth of the tunnel was a clearing, devoid of foliage under the hot midday sun. In the center of the clearing stood a pair of cybertronian life forms, both small in stature.

The first was purple and light brown, looking something like an armored Hummer. He stood, watching vehicons that patrolled the perimetre as he held a silver semi automatic blaster.

The second was also purple, but of a much deeper brown and bore parts of a space worthy shuttle. He typed away a large pillar like device at the very center of the clearing. Wildfire gasped upon seeing them, taking note of the emblem that adorned all of their bodies.

"Decepticons," she muttered.

"What?" Shatter questioned, poking her head out, "well then let's go out and talk with them. They could fix us up a transport to get off this rock and back to Lord Megatron."

"Shatter, wait!" Wildfire called out to the other female quietly, grabbing Shatter by the shoulder and pulling her back.

Shatter however did not listen, pulling free of Wildfire's grasp and proceeding forward towards the Hummer and spacecraft based cybertronians.

The Hummer gawked at her, raising a brow before aiming his blaster at her, "Who the frag are you?" he asked immediately.

"Vehicon Officer SH-494TWR," Shatter introduced herself, placing her hand over her spark chamber, "and you?"

"Call me Swindle," the Hummer smirked, motioning a hand to the spaceship based cybertronian behind him, "that techbrain over there is Blastoff."

"Vehicon Officer SH-494TWR?" Blastoff questioned, raising a brow as he looked towards Shatter. "Weren't you placed under Lord Megatron's command during the exodus?"

"Affirmative," Shatter nodded, "my squadron and I began separated from Lord Megatron's ship during a skirmish while leaving the planet. If I can simply be given transport to our Lord's location I-"

"Transport?" Swindle laughed, "To a deserter like you?!"

Shatter's optics shot open, feeling as though her spark was placed into a vince upon hearing the words of the con that stood before him, "Deserter?! I am a Vehicon Officer!"

The humming and clicks of blasters being primed and aimed filled the air, Shatter freezing as she looked around to see all the surrounding Vehicons now standing with their blasters aimed directly at her.

"You were a Vehicon Officer," Blast Off told her, "now, you shall be terminated."

With a motion of Swindle's hand, all the surrounding Vehicons fired upon Shatter. The would not hit their mark however, as at the last possible moment Wildfire darted out from cover and scooped Shatter up into her arms before kicking off the ground and flying to a nearby treeline.

"Shall we go after them sir?" a flight enabled vehicon asked.

"There's nowhere for them to run to anymore," Swindle smirked, watching the pair fly away, "they'll meet their fate when the boss arrives." He narrowed his gaze as he looked towards Blast Off, "Activate it."

Blast Off nodded, looking back to the pillar he stood by and hitting a single switch.

On the ridge above the clearing Wildfire crashed into the treeline, the female reverting to her robot mode upon impact and dropping Shatter as she tumbled to the ground.

Panting like mad, Shatter looked over to Wildfire and crawled towards her, "Wildfire?" she shook the female on the ground, "Wildfire, answer me!" Her optics drifted down the female's body, gasping when she saw a blast shot in the dead center of Wildfire's chest paneling that had burnt through several layers.

"You idiot…" Wildfire said weakly as her optics began to shut off, "I told you… not to…"

With those final words, Wildfire's head fell lifelessly to the ground as Shatter sat over her. Starting to tremble, Shatter's gaze was drawn to the skyline as a massive blue pillar of energy shot up from the clearing and towards the sky itself. Once the beam rose high enough, it branched outward into a hexagonal web like pattern, reaching farther and farther with each passing second.

Shatter, in that moment, went for her communicator, "Scourge!" she yelled into it, "This is Shatter! Wildfire's been-" her communication was cut off, going to static the farther the web in the sky grew. She punched the ground, "Dammit!" she panted heavily, finding a sense of calm only as her gaze fell back to Wildfire at her feet. "It's alright…" Shatter muttered to herself, scooping up Wildfire into her arms as she slowly but surely climbed to her feet, "I've got you."

 **End of Memory Log**

Shatter's optics opened, the red former decepticon now sitting on a bed in a hut. Let out a sigh, she looked towards and patched and cleaned up but still lifeless Wildfire that lay peacefully on a bed across from her. Quietly, Shatter rose to her feet and stepped forward before taking hold of Wildfire's hand.

"Shatter?" the voice of Dropkick broke the silence as he came into the hut, "Scourge said he wants us to bring the prisoner to him."

"just a moment Dropkick," Shatter told him, her optics still fixed upon Wildfire.

"Venture says she might not wake up…" Dropkick said with a heavy but empathetic sigh, "why do you bother, coming to see her everyday?"

"Because Dropkick…" Shatter let out a sigh of her own, letting go of Wildfire's hand while gazing at the lifeless female's face, "it should've been me."

"Shatter… you've seen sparks go out many times," Dropkick stepped forward, placing his hand on her shoulder, "what makes her so different?"

"You don't get it.. Do you?" Shatter looked to him, placing her hand atop the one he had on her shoulder. "She was the one who showed me I could fly."

 **Next - Chapter Four: Downfall**

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the delay in getting this out, I realize a good many of you had been looking forward to this continuing and I have been wanting to produce more of it. However life does what it does and got in the way of my creative process and I didn't want to post a rushed chapter solely to confirm that the fic wasn't dead. That's not fair to me, the story, and most of all, you all who are reading and enjoying it. Here's to more of Life in Exile in the future.**

 **~guncannon109**


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